Enjoy the Sweeter Side of Life . . .

Reasons why it’s good for us to not be kosher…

We are no longer a kosher certified bakery. There were are lot of reasons why we made this decision, which became effective as of this last Monday. Most were small reasons, but being kosher had been, up to this point, not a problem… just a habit that we dealt with. When we realized that we had one regular kosher customer, it became clear that it was time to end the kosher experiment. It was a quirky experiment, and it’s time had come.

So on Monday, we un-koshered the bakery by grating Parmagiano Reggiano on top of pasta sauce I made at home. (Both were taboo in the past.) Today, Jill had a request to make a Vince Lombardi trophy with the Steelers logo on it for Saturday. We figured the best way to make the football would be to form it out of rice crispy treat. In the past, we’d been unable to make these childhood treats because of the marshmallows, which are technically a ‘meat’ product because of the gelatin used to make them. (Which got us thinking that we can now make our OWN marshmallows! If you’ve never had homemade marshmallows, you’re in for a treats soon!). And by the way, rice crispy treat works best for the foot ball because we can shape it, it’s light, it holds it’s form well once it solidifies, and because it’s totally edible!

Also today, Jill began working on the dessert we’re making for our Bellview Winery demo on February 11th. She poached the cranberries that are going to be in the cranberry almond tart (like the one that we do in the bakery, but a bit jazzed up). She poached them in Bellview’s cranberry wine (not a kosher certified wine), sugar, and a few secret spices.